NEW YORK – Seniors Katie Meili from the swimming and diving team and Steve Santos of wrestling were each presented the Connie S. Maniatty Outstanding Senior Student-athlete Awards to highlight the 92nd edition of the Varsity C Celebration: Saluting our Student-Athletes at Levien Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Over the course of an outstanding career, Meili won seven individual Ivy League titles and was part of three relay championship teams. She owns school records in five individual and every single relay event, as well as the Ivy League record in the 200-IM, 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke.

Meili was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer in back-to-back Ivy League Championships and finished her closed out her senior year with three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including a third place finish in the 100 breaststroke to earn first team All-America status. Her performance in the 100-breast was the highest national finish by a Columbia swimmer since Olympian Cristina Teuscher.

Santos saw immediate results as a first-year, claiming 20 victories at 149 pounds, which included a sixth place finish at the EIWA Championships. As a sophomore, the Brick, N.J. native earned honorable mention All-Ivy League honors and another top-10 finish at Easterns. Santos continued to improve in 2011-12, winning 26 bouts and was a first team All-Ivy League selection on his way to earning a bid to the NCAA Championships.

His senior year marked levels of success that no other Columbia wrestler had ever seen. Santos won his first 15 matches of the season and became just the 19th EIWA Champion in the program's history to automatically qualify for NCAA's where he continued to shine. Santos reached the podium, recording a third place finish, where he lost only to the eventual national champion, to earn the highest finish in school history.

The event, which honors all Columbia student-athletes, also featured the presentation of the Athletics Alumni Awards to George Van Amson '74CC and Ari Brose '84CC.

In addition, the fifth annual Lions Cup was awarded to the women's rowing team. A competitive event for all Columbia University varsity sports programs that is a means by which student-athletes can compete on behalf of their teams for points in various categories.

The women's rowing team also earned the Paul E. Fernandes Community Service Award, given to the varsity sports program achieving the most significant contributions and notable service to the University and local communities during an academic year.